As Summer Wanes, Rosé Remains
Earlier sunsets, cooler temperatures, and slate grey, rain-threatening skies are heralding the waning of summer in Istanbul. While I completely plan to continue drinking rosé wines throughout the autumn (and likely winter!) now seems like a good time to go through my spring and summer Turkish rosé notes and post about those I haven’t written up yet.
Kayraklı Şarapçılık Asarcık Rosé, 2019
A new-ish winery, based in the Muğla district of the Aegean, Kayraklı Şarapçılık has just a few vintages under its belt. Although the lack of an established name/quality and limited distribution doesn’t stop it from charging outrageous prices for its wine. This rosé, an Öküzgözü – Merlot blend, retails at about 150 TL. And that’s the most reasonable price they have. Eeek.
ABV: 13.5%
Appearance: deep pink with orange highlights
Nose: Raspberry sherbet, red currants, pink salt, and splashes of pink grapefruit
Palate: Dry, slight effervescence with lively acidity, medium-bodied, with a short-plus finish. Well-made but, for me, not my wine. This is the style of rosé I prefer to avoid that has all the sweet, summer red berry flavors but without any particular depth.
Gordias Nana Kalecik Karası, 2019
It’s possible that this was the only wine from Gordias that I’d not had before. Oversight solved! Gordias, based in Polatlı, specializes in Kalecik Karası. While the owner/winemaker Canan Gerimli makes mostly red wine with the grape, she also makes this rosé under her Nana line. If I remember correctly from my conversations with her, she chaptalizes the wines in this line. They still ferment until dry, but the additional sugar adds body and texture to the final wines.
ABV: 13.5%
Appearance: very, very pink
Nose: If something can smell pink, this does! Bubblegum, cotton candy, and summer red berries like wild strawberry and raspberry.
Palate: Surprisingly dry after that nose with rather bracing acidity. It’s got that signature Kalecik Karası puff of cotton candy along with wild strawberry and watermelon.
Excellent food wine. This does very well with spicy foods.
No photoshopping! The sky & wine were the same color!
Paşaeli Kabuğunda Çakal Üzümü, 2020
We all know I love me some Paşaeli. And why not? They are the leader in rescuing and experimenting with native Turkish grapes, they’re all such nice people, and the make bloody great wine! So yeah, I write about them a lot. And here’s another. Çakal Üzümü (which we only know about thanks to Paşaeli), is a black grape but the low anthocyanins in the skin result in rosés. I’ve written previously about the first Çakal Üzümü wine Paşaeli made which is a rosé so pale it’s almost a blanc de noir and is a wine that continues to be a favorite of mine (pairs fantastically with Thai food!). Starting, I think, in 2019, Paşaeli made a second version, the Kabuğunda which literally means, “on the skins (or peels to be exact)”.
Rather than a direct press like the other wine, this one spent seven days macerating on the skins. Berries, which grow on 40 year-old vines, were individually selected. Like many of Paşaeli’s wines, it fermented with the native, ambient yeasts for a “wild ferment”.
ABV: 12.5%
Appearance: amber-gold, looks almost like a skin contact white wine
Nose: Kumquat, apricot skins, wild strawberry, baby’s breath, daisies, all spice berries, and a sprinkle of ras al hanout.
Palate: Broad on the tongue with just a suggestion of tannin and bright acidity. The palate offered flavors of loquats, peach, and white tea. I know ‘exotic’ can be a very divisive word but I’m going to drop it here anyway. It’s a wine that is much like Turkey itself: a blend of east and west flavors, the familiar tinged with the exotic.
Sagavin Öküzgözü Kalecik Karası Rosé, 2020
Sagavin is a new winery that I learned about via Instagram. Based in Antalya, this young winery offers several wines including a white, two rosés, and several reds. They are incredible value wines-a category that is increasingly difficult to find here. For this rosé, a blend of Öküzgözü and Kalecik Karası (itself an unusual blend), they sourced the Öküzgözü from Çal, and the Kalecik Karası from both Çal and Nevşehir.
ABV: 13.4%
Appearance: intense, bright, peony pink
Nose: Very fruity with strawberry, raspberry, cranberry, and a dash of freshly squeezed lemon juice
Palate: Dry, dry, dry! Turkey doesn’t really do sweet rosé. Medium-bodied with energetic acidity and sweet berry flavors on the finish.
Paired really well with salmon topped with a loquat chutney. I was all about loquats this summer.
Selefkia Roze, 2020
From Mersin-based Selefkia comes this new rosé. Made with 100% Patkara, grown at 1,420 meters in terra rosa soils, the must macerated for six hours before being pressed and fermented.
ABV: 12.6%
Appearance: dark pink, more of a pale red
Nose: Fruity and floral initially with roses, raspberry, and wild strawberry…then greens come to play in the form of strawberry leaf and pomegranate leaf.
Palate: Medium-low body with vibrant acidity. Reflects the nose with roses, red berries, leaf, and a touch of pleasant bitter green almond on the finish. It reminded me a bit of Brachetto…if Brachetto were dry and still!
Kayra Allure “Beyaz” Kalecik Karası, 2019
I hate to admit it, but this wine I have actively avoided for a few years now. I generally like Kayra’s wines, but this Allure line…not to much. But then a friend got hold of a bottle in the US of all places and said it pretty good. Then I heard from another friend. Then I tried it at one of Istanbul’s wine bars…and immediately went out and bought a bottle!
Kayra calls this beyaz (white) and I’m not sure why because the back label clearly says it’s a rosé! I’m guessing a direct press going by the super duper pale color.
ABV: 11.5%
Appearance: very pale, peachy salmon
Nose: Delicate and pretty with cherry blossom, apricot, pomegranate leaf, lemon thyme, and pink grapefruit.
Palate: Light-bodied with acidity falling just short of “lively”. Flower petals and apricots. Very quaffable.
Paired very well with white peach balsamic vinegar dressing!